Dimensional to slash fees on 77 funds

Dimensional Fund Advisors plans to reduce fees on 77 mutual funds, joining an industrywide push to lure customers with lower-cost investments.

Average management fees will be lowered 8% on an asset-weighted basis, the company said in a statement Monday. The changes go into effect Feb. 28.

Asset management companies have slashed what they charge clients in an effort to compete with inexpensive index funds. Fidelity Investments has introduced several zero-cost funds and Charles Schwab Corp. set off a shakeout in the sector this year by offering free stock trading.

“We expect to do better than benchmarks and peers, after fees, so we fight for every basis point,” Gerard O’Reilly, Dimension’s co-CEO and chief investment officer, said in the statement.

Dimensional, which manages $579 billion in assets, said the new charges would apply to several of its most widely held funds, including those in the flagship core, value and fixed-income portfolios.

The company said it trimmed management fees or expense caps in 2015, 2017 and earlier this year.

[More: Advisers bypass zero expense ratios for brand-name ETFs]

Related Topics: Fees and Expenses